


Deal It Double

by Maiuzan



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Fake/Pretend Relationship, Getting Together, Kissing, M/M, bokuto thinks he's straight, they're in college btw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-26
Updated: 2016-05-26
Packaged: 2018-07-10 08:25:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6975406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maiuzan/pseuds/Maiuzan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bokuto asks Kuroo to pretend to be his boyfriend for a few nights. However, it doesn't quite work out the way either of them expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Deal It Double

**Author's Note:**

> bokuto and kuroo healed my writer's block
> 
> i hope you enjoy!

Tetsurou took a sip of his coffee as he flipped the page of his textbook. He tried to study the chapter about unicellular organisms, which proved to be as boring as the last one.

He ran his fingers over the edges of the paper, wishing the semester would be over already. Only four more weeks until summer break. He could do this, easily. As Tetsurou dropped his head on the textbook, he sighed. “Why does it have to be so boring though?” he whispered to himself.

From where he sat at his desk, he could look out of his apartment’s open window. A warm summer breeze swept through the room, gently blowing the hair out of his face. He thought about how desperately he wanted to go to the beach soon. Maybe he could convince some of his friends to come with him. He lifted his head from the book, and tried to focus on his homework again.

Just as he was giggling about a cell’s resemblance to a certain body part, the doorbell rang a few times. He chose to ignore it, since he was clearly in the middle of something important.

However, the bell rang a sixth time, erasing any doubt Tetsurou might have had about who it was. He had told his best friend he would be studying, hadn’t he?

“This had better be important,” he muttered under his breath as he got up from his desk and made his way to the front door.

Of course, when he opened it, Bokuto stood on the other side, lopsided grin on his face. “Can I come in?”

“No.” Tetsurou’s grip on the door tightened. He considered slamming it in Bokuto’s face.

“Thanks,” Bokuto said, and he slid past Tetsurou, into the apartment.

“So, what are you up to?” Bokuto asked as he dropped his jacket on the couch, and curiously strode to the desk at the far end of the living room.

“Studying, like I told you.” Tetsurou clicked his tongue, and picked up the jacket to hang it on the coat rack where it belonged.

Bokuto ran his finger over Tetsurou’s textbook, reading the chapter title, “Miniature and single cell organisms. Oh, this about your dick?” He seemed amused at his own joke.

“Hilarious. And that’s not how you read those kanji. It says–” but Bokuto no longer paid attention. He had already moved to the kitchen and was raiding the fridge. “Nevermind,” Tetsurou whispered.

Tetsurou leaned on the edge of the couch as he watched Bokuto return from the kitchen with his prize.

Bokuto took a bite of the cold hotdog he had stolen. “Kuroo, my pal, my intelligent best friend, my partner in crime, I need a favor.”

Tetsurou crossed his arms. “No.”

“I haven’t even told you what it is yet!” Bokuto exclaimed with a mouth full of sausage, which Tetsurou would have joked about, if he hadn’t been so annoyed.

“You don’t have to, my answer is no.” Tetsurou hoped he could still pull off his stern captain look, because he needed it now.

“When did I ever ask you for anything, Kuroo?” Bokuto looked genuinely hurt, but Tetsurou wouldn’t fall for that. Not this time.

Before he spoke, he took a deep breath. “Do you have a few minutes? Remember when you asked me to come to your nephew’s birthday party in a cat costume, and I ended up being a live piñata? Or that one time when you lost your bike, and we spent all over town looking for it? And when you found it, you rode it home, passed out, and casually forgot to tell me? I was out until 2am, Bo!” Tetsurou ranted.

Bokuto lowered his head in embarrassment, the scolding he had received from Tetsurou after that had happened probably still fresh in his memory. Good.

“Oh and how could I forget. You swallowed a toy soldier and were so ashamed about it that I had to call the doctor and pretend to be you.” That had actually been a fun experience, and the memory of it almost made Tetsurou crack up. Bokuto’s silliness was a huge part of why they were friends in the first place.

“Okay, okay! I get it! But this time it’s different, I swear!” Bokuto held up his hands in apology, seeking permission with his eyes to continue. Tetsurou only nodded at him. Bokuto ran his hotdog hand through his hair as he asked, “You know that one sociology class I’m taking, about sexuality and gender and stuff?”

“Yeah, the one you called ‘easy credit’ but turned out to be a lot harder than you expected?” Tetsurou tapped his foot, hoping Bokuto would get the message and cut to the chase, but he had never been a pro at taking a hint.

“Yes, that one. Also, shut up.” Bokuto went back to the fridge and retrieved another hotdog, this time together with a bottle of ketchup. “So, basically, I’m the only dude in the class, which is awesome, of course. But somehow, the girls caught me in some interrogation about why I was there, and someone asked if I was gay, and I don’t know, I guess I felt cornered, so I said yes?”

“Do you want me to tell you how stupid that is, or should we just skip that part?” Bokuto gestured with his hotdog to skip it, so Kuroo asked, “What does this have to do with me?”

Bokuto tried to put some ketchup on the hotdog mid-air, and splattered some of it on Kuroo’s floor. “Well, I also told them I have a boyfriend.” Tetsurou pinched the bridge of his nose, and worried Bokuto’s stupidity might be contagious. “They invited me to karaoke, and I’m not allowed to come unless I bring said boyfriend.”

“Ask Akaashi,” Tetsurou suggested, because he knew that Akaashi was very tolerant of Bokuto’s shenanigans. Up to a point.

“Already did. He hung up on me,” Bokuto said matter-of-factly.

Tetsurou felt a bit hurt that he had been second choice, but pushed the feeling away as quickly as it had appeared. Instead, he wondered if forcefully removing Bokuto from his apartment would be considered to be rude. He decided that he didn’t care about being rude.

Bokuto seemed to finally notice how pissed off Tetsurou was. “Please? You’re gay, so just do your gay… thing? It’ll be fine!”

“Okay, that’s offensive in so many ways.” Tetsurou sighed. Bokuto looked so desperate, and even though Tetsurou hated to admit it, he had always been weak for Bokuto’s demands. He considered it, the whole pretend thing, but the remnants of his high school crush on Bokuto were telling him that it was a Super Bad Idea. However, if they pretended to be boyfriends, Tetsurou might find that it’s not something he wanted after all; and he would do anything to get over that stupid crush.

Bokuto put on his puppy eyes, which might have been cute if he hadn’t had a smear of ketchup on his cheek. “I’ll pay for your drinks?”

“Fine.” He finally caved, and Bokuto assumed a victory pose. Tetsurou had an ominous feeling that this would change their friendship forever.

 

* * *

 

“How do I look?” Bokuto asked Tetsurou, as he patted down his shirt, straightening wrinkles that weren’t there. They were at the karaoke center, standing in front of the room they had booked. Tetsurou didn’t like to admit it, but he was feeling a little bit nervous about the whole situation.

Bokuto had used even more hair gel than he normally did, and Tetsurou found it hard not to laugh at it. “Well, your hair is even more ridiculous than it usually is, so–”

“Okay, that’s good, let’s go in.” Bokuto opened the door of their room, and three girls were already there, sipping on fancy looking drinks. “Hey, hey, ladies!”

Bokuto introduced the girls, Yurika, Momo, and Masumi or Masami, Tetsurou didn’t quite catch the last name. He was distracted by the way Bokuto was holding on to his shoulder, grip firm. He looked proud as he introduced him, “Girls, this is my lovely boyfriend, Kuroo Tetsurou.”

He then realized what a bad actor Bokuto was; the way he said ‘boyfriend’ wasn’t convincing at all. Tetsurou put on his most charming smile, and said, “Don’t be embarrassing, Koutarou. Pleasure to meet you all.” He bowed politely, capturing Bokuto’s expression from the corner of his eye, happy to see that he was impressed by his acting.

They sang some songs, had a couple of drinks, and Tetsurou did what he did best; making jokes and drowning himself in small talk.

Bokuto dropped himself next to Tetsurou on the couch after he had finished his wonderful rendition of a Vengaboys classic. Much to Tetsurou’s delight, Bokuto sat closer than he normally did, and their thighs were pressed together.

Between songs, Yurika asked from across the table, “Bokuto-kun, you never told us how you two got together, please share?”

“Ahh, well–” Bokuto scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “Kuroo’s a better storyteller, hm?” He raised his eyebrows at Tetsurou and politely kicked him under the table.

It wasn’t as if Tetsurou didn’t know what to tell them, in fact, he had had so many fantasies about confessing to Bokuto, that he didn’t know which story to pick. Four sets of eyes looked at him expectantly, and he decided to go with the sappiest story of them all.

“It happened on Valentine’s day, a year ago.” Next to him, Bokuto choked on his drink, but played it off as a simple cough. “Koutarou had complained to me about how he didn’t want to be alone on Valentine’s, so I invited him over to my place. I lit some candles, put out some roses, kept it simple, and asked him to be my Valentine. And of course he said yes.” The girls cooed. “I’ve been in love with him since high school, so it was such a relief to finally have my feelings reciprocated.” This was no lie, and Tetsurou felt a shiver run over his back, as if it was dangerous to say the words out loud, making them real.

“Kou-chan, your boyfriend is the best,” Momo chirped.

Tetsurou hadn’t noticed before, but Bokuto had been staring at him throughout his story. He broke his stare to answer Momo, “Yes, I couldn’t have wished for anyone better.” He put his hand on Tetsurou’s shoulder again, smile bright and proud, and Tetsurou let himself pretend for a short moment that this was real.

 

* * *

 

Koutarou rolled his pencil from one end of the table to the other. He was in the library, trying to study, with the emphasis on ‘trying’. The week before, he had gone out with his classmates and his best friend– no, his boyfriend– and today after class, the girls had asked him out again. The funny thing was that he had suggested himself that Kuroo should come too.

Pretending to be Kuroo’s boyfriend turned out to be more fun that he had expected, but he didn’t understand why.

It was probably because of Kuroo’s amazing acting skills. Koutarou had felt so good under Kuroo’s loving gaze, because it looked so real. His heart had even jumped at his corny love story. Maybe he should convince him to pursue an acting career.

Koutarou decided to ditch his studying to pay Kuroo a visit and invite him to their next karaoke date.

When he arrived at Kuroo’s apartment, he was a bit out of breath, because there had been a skip in his step part of his way there. Kuroo opened the door after Koutarou had rung the bell ten times, which was his new record.

“I could tell you that I’m studying, but that wouldn’t keep you out, would it?” Kuroo looked tired, worrying Koutarou. He always overworked himself when it came to college.

“Nope.” Koutarou grinned when Kuroo opened the door further to let him in. “Besides, you look like you could use a little break.”

Koutarou walked inside, and it felt like coming home. He adored this place, loved the way the sun came in through the wide windows, the kitchen with the worn out bar, and the sitting area with the ancient couch. But his favorite place in the apartment was Kuroo’s desk. Everything on it was organized and labeled, the complete opposite of how Koutarou worked. The desk just overflowed with Kuroo’s personality and his perseverance. Looking at it always gave Koutarou some false sense of productivity.

Sometimes, Koutarou imagined what his life would be like if he had never met Kuroo, but the thought of it alone made him uneasy. He rather fantasized about their future together, and all the fun they’d still have when they would be in a retirement home together.

Koutarou sat down on the desk chair, and Kuroo had settled on the couch, with a cold glass of water, the dark circles under his eyes more prominent than ever.

Koutarou suddenly remembered one of his reasons why he came over. “I’ve been meaning to ask you something.” Kuroo raised an eyebrow at him, probably expecting a ridiculous question. “How did you find out that you’re gay?”

“Dude, where did that even come from?” Kuroo yawned before he continued, “I didn’t particularly _find out._ I guess I always knew?”

“Hm.” Koutarou thought about this answer. Maybe it was the same as how Koutarou had always known that he liked girls. But then again, he’d never considered what it would be like to be with a guy. “If I were gay, I’d totally date you, bro,” he said jokingly, even though it wasn’t a joke.

“Please don’t say things like that.” Kuroo looked hurt, and Koutarou didn’t understand why. “I really need to get back to studying, so could you please leave soon?”

“Alright, but only if you come to karaoke next Friday.” Koutarou jumped up from his chair, gladly leaving Kuroo alone to study, hoping that he might get some rest when he finished.

“Sure.” Kuroo’s eyebrows were still furrowed, the look in his eyes absent.

Koutarou wondered why the words he said had hurt him, and how he could possibly fix it.

 

* * *

 

After a long week of trying to study and failing miserably, Friday finally came around, much to Koutarou’s delight. He had tried not to bother Kuroo too much all week, since he was busy with his studies. Needless to say, Koutarou was desperately missing his best friend. Even though he wished they could just have a movie night and goof around, going out with his classmates and pretending to be lovers was a good alternative.

He rang Kuroo’s doorbell, and also knocked on the door a few times because he was excited to see him again. “It’s open!” Kuroo shouted from inside the house.

Koutarou made his way inside, and stole a beer from Kuroo’s fridge. He noted that the apartment was freakily tidy, and figured that Kuroo had probably been having some bad moods lately. Koutarou always neglected his chores whenever he was feeling down, whereas Kuroo cleaned. It was funny how they could be complete opposites sometimes, and still get along with each other.

When he opened his beer, Kuroo emerged from his bedroom, looking like he just came out of the shower. His hair was always a bit less messy after it got wet, but somehow the bedhead got permanently ingrained into it. Kuroo was buttoning up a white dress shirt, a look that in Koutarou’s opinion made him seem more mature and sophisticated.

He let out an appreciating whistle. “Someone’s looking fancy. We’re only going out for karaoke, you know that, right?”

Kuroo looked up from his shirt and snorted. “And you look like we’re going to a concert. Why the leather jacket?”

“I’m trying out a new look, is it bad?” Koutarou showed off his recently acquired fashion statement, which was too warm for summer, but too cool to take off.

“Nah, you look fine.” Kuroo groaned, fingers still working on his shirt. “Help me with this button, will you? My fingers are too clumsy for this.”

“If _you_ are too clumsy, then I don’t think you should ask me for help.” He laughed, but he put down his beer and went to help Kuroo anyway. He fumbled with the second button from the top, finding that it was a tricky one indeed. Koutarou caught a glimpse of Kuroo’s bronzed chest underneath the shirt, noting how he wasn’t wearing an undershirt. “You could always leave it open, it looks hot,” he suggested, and immediately after the words came out, he realized how wrong they sounded. Kuroo didn’t reply, so Koutarou awkwardly cleared his throat when he finally managed to close the button. “There,” he adjusted Kuroo’s collar, “all done.”

Koutarou looked up at Kuroo’s face and found that it was flushed, probably still from the shower. Kuroo muttered a quick ‘thanks’, and went back to his bedroom. Koutarou vaguely felt like he had done something wrong, again, but he wasn’t going to let it ruin his night.

When Kuroo was ready, and Koutarou had finished his beer, they went to the karaoke center. Kuroo easily slid into his role of Koutarou’s boyfriend again as soon as they met with his classmates.

Koutarou was enjoying himself tremendously, and Kuroo seemed to be too, smile beaming like sunshine. The songs were horrible, but the drinks were good, and the company even better.

At one point, as Koutarou was laughing at a joke Momo made, Kuroo laced their fingers together under the table. It wasn’t something unusual for people in a relationship, but there was no way that the girls sitting on the other side would see it, so it was completely unnecessary.

Koutarou could easily pull his hand away while he continued his conversation, but he didn’t. He kept his hand there, in Kuroo’s, where it felt safe. He looked at Kuroo talk, without listening to what he was saying. Koutarou realized how much he loved his best friend. He had always known, but he had never actively thought about it before.

He liked it when Kuroo pretended to be his boyfriend, and Koutarou wondered what that meant. Sure, he had dated girls before, but he realized that this felt different. This felt better. Koutarou was convinced that Kuroo knew him better than anyone else, and the fact that he remained Koutarou’s best friend baffled him. It felt amazing to know that someone loved you despite all your flaws, instead of living in constant fear of someone walking away from you because of it. It felt secure.

Koutarou concluded that he wouldn’t mind dating Kuroo, in fact, he would love it. Did that make him bisexual? Probably. But it would never happen, because Kuroo was definitely not into him. If he were, he would have never agreed to this whole ordeal, that would’ve been too painful for him.

“What do you think, honey?” Kuroo asked, and Koutarou realized that the question was directed at him. His chest fluttered at the cheesy petname.

“Uhm, what were we talking about?” he asked with a goofy smile on his lips.

“Kuroo-kun, he was distracted by your face. I saw him staring,” Yurika teased.

“Oh really? Well, I can’t blame him, just look at me.” Kuroo framed his face with his hands as if he were a model, making everyone at the table laugh at him, including Koutarou.

Koutarou wished they could keep this farce going for a little while longer.

 

* * *

 

The semester was finally over, and summer break had arrived. Tetsurou felt like he could use an entire weekend’s worth of sleep, but instead, he was choosing an outfit for his ‘date’. Bokuto had jokingly called it a date, but he was just going to treat him to some pizza to thank him for pretending to be his boyfriend.

Not that Tetsurou needed any thanks for that, he had honestly enjoyed it. Enjoyed it a little too much. He had hoped that what was left of his crush would disappear, but instead, it only brought it back to life stronger than ever.

He sighed as he looked through his closet, wondering if a shirt would be too casual, and then wondering if anything was too casual for pizza. He decided on a shirt which Bokuto had called ‘cool’ once, grabbed his phone, and left the house.

When Tetsurou arrived at the restaurant, Bokuto was already waiting for him at a table. The restaurant was small, and the prices were low, which usually attracted lots of students, but not at this time of evening. The students came later at night, to eat as much fatty food as they could, before hitting the clubs. Tetsurou didn’t like to admit it, but he had been one of those students during his first year of college.

He walked up to the table where Bokuto was very busy building a tower with the salt and pepper shakers. “Hey, what’s up?”

He didn’t look up when he greeted him, too focused on what he was doing. “Yo, Kuroo, my man. Can you get some more of these? I wanna see how high I can go.”

Tetsurou grinned, happily obliging. He loved the way Bokuto always got him up to do silly stuff, having him shake off all the seriousness after a long week of college. Sometimes though, Bokuto got a bit too carried away with his mischief, but that was where Tetsurou came in. Tetsurou figured that the secret to their friendship was balancing each other out.

He came back to the table with a bunch of shakers, smiling apologetically at the waitress, and started building his own tower.  

“Which pizza are you getting?” Bokuto asked, peering through his shaky structure.

It was a redundant question, since Tetsurou had always had the same order since the first time he visited the restaurant. “Tuna, you?”

Bokuto stuck out his tongue in concentration as he added another floor to his tower. “Hmm, I think the one with pineapple.”

“You disgust me.” Tetsurou had lost interest in playing salt and pepper construction worker, and kicked the table, causing Bokuto’s ‘masterpiece’ to collapse.

“You ass–” Bokuto started, but he sneezed before he could finish. The collapse must have gotten some pepper in his nose, which Tetsurou felt a bit guilty about.

They ordered pizza, and talked about their plans for summer break. Awful jokes were made and they laughed until their stomachs hurt. Tetsurou loved going out with his best friend like this, loved that they didn’t need to talk about serious topics, and would be content with only joking around.

After the waitress had cleaned their table, and taken their dessert orders, Tetsurou felt something on top of his hand. He saw that Bokuto had put his hand on Tetsurou’s. He looked up at Bokuto’s face to find the meaning behind it, but he was just blabbering on about something that had happened on the last day of class.

Maybe he had already gotten used to them pretending to be together as more than friends? Maybe that was all there was to it. Maybe it meant more.

Tetsurou entwined their fingers, noting that Bokuto stuttered on something mid-sentence as he did.

Maybe it meant more.

Their desserts came, and even then, they didn’t pull their hands apart. While they ate their ice cream, Tetsurou acted like he did when they had gone out with Bokuto’s classmates, once again pretending that they were in a relationship. Bokuto’s mood improved more than Tetsurou had imagined to be possible, laughing at everything Tetsurou said. But then again, he might have just been as flustered as Tetsurou was.

When Bokuto went to pay the bill, they had to let go of each other. Tetsurou could still feel the heat on his hand and on his face. He berated himself for enjoying it.

Once he had gotten into college, Tetsurou had tried so hard to get over Bokuto. He had kissed strangers, dated classmates, slept with old friends, but nothing worked. One time, he thought he might have had his feelings for Bokuto confused with high school nostalgia. Now he knew better.

Tetsurou was suddenly hit with the desire to either end something or start something. The desire for change. He decided that they needed to talk about this, before his overanalyzing would give him brain damage.

Bokuto arrived at the table, already putting on that god-awful leather jacket. “Hey, you ready to go? I’ll walk you home.”

Bokuto was uncharacteristically silent all the way to Tetsurou’s apartment. They slowly walked side by side, listening to the bustle of the city, and enjoying each other's quiet presence.

When they arrived at his apartment, the silence continued between them, until Bokuto turned to leave. “So, I’ll see you soon, I guess?”

Tetsurou stopped him with his hand on his shoulder, and his nose scrunched at the feel of that awful, awful jacket. “Bo, we should talk.”

“What, are you breaking up with me?” Bokuto chuckled, while he shifted his weight from the balls of his feet to his heels, and back again.

“Dude, just come inside.” Tetsurou fetched his keys to open the door, because he didn’t feel like dealing with Bokuto’s nonsense, especially not when nerves rushed through his body.

“Heh, you want me to come inside you?” Bokuto joked.

Tetsurou just stared at him, showing that he was clearly unamused. “Bokuto, I swear to God–”

“Sorry, sorry. I make jokes when I’m nervous.” Bokuto waved his hands in apology, and Tetsurou decided to drop it. So he was nervous too? Then Bokuto definitely knew what Tetsurou wanted to talk about.

“Just–” Tetsurou twisted the keys in the lock and opened the door to his apartment. “Just come in.”

 

* * *

 

Koutarou sat himself down on Kuroo’s couch, finding it hard to be comfortable on the fabric beneath him. Kuroo was fetching something from the fridge, and he was being so quiet. Koutarou felt like he was in trouble somehow, and he was about to get the scolding of a lifetime.

Kuroo leaned against the kitchen’s bar, two beers in hand. “Here, have one.” He threw him a can, which Koutarou skillfully caught. Without thinking, he opened it, and the drink came fizzing out. He managed to catch some drops with his mouth, but spilled the rest on his pants. Smooth.

They silently sipped at their beers, and Koutarou worried. With the way Kuroo was acting, it wouldn’t surprise him if this actually was Kuroo ‘breaking up’ with him. Maybe he had enough of them being friends, and the dating thing had been the last straw.

Kuroo’s voice cut through the silence, “We need to talk about what we did in the restaurant.”

Koutarou knew exactly what his friend meant, but he didn’t know what to say. Koutarou had grabbed his hand during dinner, and that was not something to be ignored, even though he had tried to act casual about it. He had missed acting all lovey-dovey with Kuroo, so he thought a little hand-holding would cause no harm. Still, he didn’t think he’d have the courage to say that out loud, so he remained silent, staring at the can in his hands.

“Bokuto, I don’t wanna pretend anymore.” The words came out like a sigh, making Koutarou feel like Kuroo had been holding them in for a while.

He should have known. Of course Kuroo would never see him like that. Of course he doesn’t want to continue their pretense. Who would want to date Koutarou to begin with, let alone pretend? He wants to smack himself in the head for ever asking that much from Kuroo. Quickly, he gulped down what was left of his beer. “I understand,” he hurried the words, hoping Kuroo didn’t think he was upset or anything.

“No, you don’t. What I meant was,” Kuroo also finished his beer before continuing, “I want it to be real.”

“Oh.” Koutarou tried to process the words, but finding it hard to focus, because Kuroo had an impressive blush on his face and it was proving to be quite distracting.

“And that’s why I think we should stop this. My feelings are becoming too much for me to bear,” Kuroo said. He threw his beer can at the trash bin, and cursed when he missed. He went to pick it up and properly dispose of it, giving Koutarou the time he needed to think about Kuroo’s words.

Kuroo wanted to stop pretending because he wanted to date him for real. Koutarou had thought about dating Kuroo, a lot, and had already come to the conclusion that he would like it. But was he actually brave enough to take that step? To risk their friendship over some feelings?

He saw how Kuroo was stacking away the dishes, knowing that he always started cleaning when he was upset, and his heart tightened at the idea of him being anything but happy. Koutarou would love to be the one to make Kuroo happy, to make him smile, to make him laugh. He would love to kiss that stupid face of his and hold hands and cuddle and whatever else came with having a relationship.

“What if I want it to be real too?” he whispered, voice suddenly not as brave as the rest of him.

Kuroo almost dropped a glass, before he turned to look at him. “Bo, you’re the straightest guy I know.”

“You know that bisexuality exists, right?” Koutarou tried to smirk cockily, but it probably looked like a mess.

Kuroo crossed his arms. “What? Did you learn that word in class?”

“Well, actually I did. Why you gotta be so stingy?” Koutarou crossed his arms as well, mirroring Kuroo’s irritated pose.

“I’m sorry. I’m just confused.” Kuroo shook his head, frowning like he was trying to solve a difficult question on a test.

Koutarou thought about why Kuroo had a hard time believing his words. Of course it was difficult to swallow that Koutarou, who had previously only been with girls, was suddenly interested in dating Kuroo. Koutarou was surprised about it as well, so Kuroo must be even more surprised. If he wanted to make Kuroo believe him, all he probably had to do was explain his feelings to him, which was easier said than done.

Koutarou tried to gather some courage, and spoke, “When we were pretending, I liked the way you made me feel about myself, even if it was an act. You made me feel like I mattered. Besides, I’ve always liked myself more when I’m around you, like you make me a better person? Is that weird?” Koutarou scratched his head, getting mildly confused at his own words. “These past few weeks made me realize all of that, and if you’re cool with it, I’d like to try it for real. I’ve given it lots of thought, and as you know, I don’t do that quite often. As long as we can still be friends if it doesn’t work out. I’d die if you weren’t in my life, Kuroo.” After he said it, Koutarou realized that the last part sounded way more dramatic than what he had meant, but Kuroo didn’t seem to feel the need to say anything about that.

“Are you sure?” Kuroo asked tentatively.

Koutarou put his thumbs up. “Positive.”

Kuroo chuckled at that, and he sounded relieved. Koutarou was happy to hear him laugh again; Kuroo’s laugh had the ability to always cheer him up, no matter what his mood.

Kuroo left the kitchen and came to sit next to Koutarou on the couch. He sat closer than they usually sat, and Koutarou enjoyed the vicinity. Kuroo opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again. Koutarou gave him the time he needed to decide on what to say, and once he did, Kuroo said, “I’m gonna kiss you now, and I’m very nervous about it, so please go easy on me.”

“Bro, you think _you_ are nervous?” Koutarou held up his hands to show how much they were shaking.

Kuroo smiled as he put his hand on Koutarou’s knee, turning his body so that he was facing him. Koutarou swallowed.

The hand on his knee gripped him harder, and Koutarou saw Kuroo bite his bottom lip. Maybe he was still uncertain if Koutarou really wanted this? He knew that if he were in Kuroo’s place, he’d feel that way. So he decided to show him how serious he really was and leaned in to kiss him.

Their lips came together a bit too hard and clumsy, but that didn’t matter, because Kuroo’s hands were in his hair and Koutarou was brimming with feelings. He was so excited about kissing his best friend, that he felt like he was the personification of an exclamation mark.

Best friend? Boyfriend?

That didn’t matter now, because Kuroo’s tongue prodded at his lips and entered his mouth. Koutarou had expected it to be different to kiss a guy, a younger version of him would’ve even called the idea of it ‘gross’, but it was nothing like that at all. It was quite the same as kissing a girl, except for the stubble rubbing at his chin, and the manhandling, and the way his heart felt like it was trying to escape from the rest of his body.

Kuroo broke away, his lips red and out of breath as if he had forgotten to breathe somewhere along the way. Koutarou appreciated that look on him and decided that he wanted to see it more often.

In the place where Kuroo’s hand had gripped him so tightly earlier, he was now gently kneading his knee. “I’ve liked you for quite some time now, I hope you don’t mind me not telling you sooner,” Kuroo said, and bit his lip again. Was that something shy and infatuated Kuroo did often? Koutarou sure hoped so.

“Of course I don’t mind.” Koutarou imagined what it would be like to have a crush on your presumably straight friend. He probably wouldn’t be able to bear it as long as Kuroo did, however long that even was. And yet, despite hiding it all that time, he was now opening up to him, and trusting him with his feelings. “It’s kinda cute actually,” Koutarou sighed, because what he had said was true. Kuroo was incredibly cute.

“Oh shut up.” Kuroo grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him into a kiss again. If it meant that Kuroo’s lips would be on his, Koutarou wouldn’t mind shutting up, not even for a long time.  

**Author's Note:**

> find me at maiuzan.tumblr.com


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